Primary ovarian insufficiency and myasthenia gravis.

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease. In some patients, Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI) is considered to be an autoimmune condition. Their coexistence is rare and suggests autoimmune perturbation. We describe a patient who was determined to have POI at 17 years of age and who developed MG 20 years later.

Thrombosis of subclavian and internal jugular veins following severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a serious, albeit rare, complication of fertility treatment. In its severe form, it may be life-threatening. Increased vascular permeability with hemoconcentration is the hallmark of the syndrome. Vascular thromboembolism is a significant potential complication. CASE: A previously healthy 26-year-old nulligravid woman developed severe OHSS following an in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) treatment cycle. She required hospitalization for treatment comprising IV fluid replacement, albumin infusion, paracentesis, and prophylactic heparin. She presented two days after discharge from hospital with left arm edema and neck pain. Subclavian and internal jugular vein thrombosis was diagnosed. CONCLUSION: OHSS is a serious complication of treatment for ovulation induction and is a significant risk factor for vascular thrombosis. Patients remain at risk even if given prophylactic heparin. The clinical presentation of OHSS may be unusual and late, indicating the importance of vigilance on the part of all physicians caring for patients who have undergone fertility treatment.

Association of ABO and Rh blood groups with breast cancer.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the association of "ABO" and "Rhesus" blood groups with incidence of breast cancer. METHODS: In this study, we identified 70 research documents from data based search engines including "PubMed", "ISI-Web of Knowledge", "Embase" and "Google Scholar". The research papers were selected by using the primary key-terms including "ABO blood type", "Rhesus" blood type and "breast cancer". The research documents in which "ABO" and "Rhesus" blood types and breast cancer was debated were included. After screening, we reviewed 32 papers and finally we selected 25 research papers which met the inclusion criteria and remaining documents were excluded. RESULTS: Blood group "A" has high incidence of breast cancer (45.88%), blood group "O" has (31.69%); "B" (16.16%) and blood group "AB" has (6.27%) incidence of breast cancer. Blood group "A" has highest and blood group "AB" has least association with breast cancer. Furthermore, "Rhesus +ve" blood group has high incidence of breast cancer (88.31%) and "Rhesus -ve" blood group has least association with breast cancer (11.68%). CONCLUSION: Blood group "A" and "Rhesus +ve" have high risk of breast cancer, while blood type "AB" and "Rhesus -ve" are at low peril of breast cancer. Physicians should carefully monitor the females with blood group "A" and "Rh +ve" as these females are more prone to develop breast cancer. To reduce breast cancer incidence and its burden, preventive and screening programs for breast cancer especially in young women are highly recommended.

Age, body mass index, and number of previous trials: are they prognosticators of intra-uterine-insemination for infertility treatment?

BACKGROUND: To examine whether pregnancy rate (PR) of intrauterine insemination (IUI) is related to certain demographic factors, such as age and body mass index (BMI), along with number of IUI cycles performed, a set of infertile Saudi women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During this prospective study (a 24-month period), 301 Saudi women with infertility underwent IUI in our infertility clinic. We investigated whether PR is correlated with patient age and BMI, and the number of IUI trials, in order to determine if they could be used as prognosticators of pregnancy success. RESULTS: The highest PR was 14.89% for ages 19-25 and the lowest PR was 4.16% for ages 41-45, indicating no statistically significant difference among PR in all age groups (p value of 0.225). Also, in terms of BMI, the highest PR was 13.04% for BMI ≥35 and the lowest was 7.84% for BMI of <25 to 18.5, indicating no significant difference among different BMI groups (p value of 0.788). One-cycle treatment, as expected, was more successful (PR=12.84%) than 2-cycle treatment (PR=5.75%), however, 3-5-cycles treatment still showed encouraging results (PR=17.24%); but the difference did not reach statistical significance (p value=0.167). CONCLUSION: PR after IUI treatment remained approximately 10% from 19 to 40 years of age and declined after 40. Although no significant difference was observed among different age groups, earlier treatment is still recommended. There was a positive but not statistically significant correlation between PR and patient's BMI indicating that BMI is not a determining factor. There was also no correlation between PR and number of IUI trials. Patients can thus try as many times as they want before moving on to in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.